BAY CITY, MI — It appears unlikely now that any gay marriages will be taking place this weekend in Bay County.

Bay County Clerk Cynthia A. Luczak

In a text message to the Times, Bay County Clerk Cynthia A. Luczak said she had no authority granted from state officials, the Michigan Association of County Clerks or Bay County’s legal counsel to act on issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

She said the fact that a Detroit judge overturned Michigan’s gay marriage ban after 5 p.m. on Friday, March 21, indicates to her that she should wait to issue marriage licenses to gay couples until some kind of state process is formalized.

Meanwhile, at least four county clerks across Michigan began issuing the state’s first marriage licenses to gay couples on Saturday following the ruling by a federal judge that struck down the state’s constitutional amendment that defined marriage between one man and one woman.

Clerks in Washtenaw, Oakland and Muskegon counties were also open Saturday to issue marriage licenses.

Several Bay County gay couples are looking to be married and receive a license this weekend, including David Terrasi and Victor Pafford, a couple of 12 years who had their paperwork filled out since October, witnesses on hand and a judge ready to conduct a ceremony Friday night.

Victor Pafford and David Terrasi of Bay City hang out, hoping to get married Friday, March 21, after a judge overturned the ban on gay marriage in Michigan. (Yfat Yossifor | The Bay City Times)

“Disappointed,” said a frustrated Terrasi Saturday morning. “I don’t know what else I can say. We just want the clerk to open and give us the opportunity like all other fellow Michigan residents. Why are we being denied an opportunity?”

Terrasi says he knows of at least six other same-sex couples looking to obtain a marriage license.

“This isn’t going to be like Washtenaw or Ingham — there are less than 10 couples. It could go quickly,” he said.

Following Friday's ruling, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette immediately filed an appeal, but the judge did not issue a stay, as other judges have in other states after overturning marriage bans with anticipated appeals.

Schuette issued an email and memo in October to each of the state's 83 clerks ordering them not to grant gay marriage licenses, even if the ban is overturned in federal court:

"To all county clerks: Even if the U.S. District Court were to decide that Michigan's Marriage Amendment was unconstitutional ... same-sex marriage licenses should not be issued."

A two-page attachment cited a stay on the decision among the reasons not to do so. The attached memo said clerks were "forbidden under Michigan law to issue licenses."

Charin Davenport, a transgender woman from Bay City, said Bay County tends to be more conservative than the other counties near Detroit and Lansing.

"We tend to wait instead of step out in front and take the lead," she said. "It would be nice if we took the lead, but it's not about taking the lead, it's about peoples' rights. So, I think there are dozens of couples in Bay County who would love to get married, but I think they're waiting to see how this plays out.

"I think they're waiting for someone to say to them 'Yes, you can get married,' and 'Yes, you're not going to get in trouble.'"